Yesterday, Evie and I had the privilege of driving two people from our area to the Newark airport.
They were flying off to Uganda to participate in a mission trip.
One of the two is a coworker of mine at the store. The other we only met when we drove him to the airport.
As we introduced ourselves to each other, our new friend revealed that his wife and he had been raised Amish but they'd left the church eight years ago.
Eventually, we asked him why he left the Amish and his answer was simple, bold and direct:
"Because we wanted to have a relationship with Jesus."
We chatted about that for a few minutes. He said that his wife and he came to believe, on their own, that there's something lacking in the Amish way and that they reached that conclusion by reading the Bible.
Eventually, he said that his wife and he realized that, to be Amish, is to focus on the church and that there is so much emphasis on church and community among the Amish that there's really no room for a man or woman to know and to live in relationship with Jesus.
So, for them, to seek a relationship with Jesus meant turning their backs on family and the, very powerful, Amish sense of community. And, ultimately, to be excommunicated and shunned.
Leaving all of that behind was difficult for them, but their desire to have a relationship with Jesus made that decision possible...even necessary.
What a testimony!
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As I listened to this gut-wrenching testimony, I could hear our new friend saying, in his words certainly, and from the perspective of the Amish, what I've been saying about my CGGC brand characteristic, Ecclesiolatry.
3. Ecclesiolatry. Ecclesiolatry is the creation and veneration of the church as an idol, as opposed to love of and obedience to Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church. Idolatry is creating objects of worship and adoration to suit our own passions and prejudices. The CGGC substitutes love for the church for love for the church's Lord. Hence the obsession with planting, transformationalizing, adopting and renewing local churches while the Church's Lord's talk was about and His prayer and passion was to establish a His Father's Kingdom. The church is the CGGC's Golden Calf
The first half of that description of CGGC ecclesiolatry matches that man's testimony. He stopped being Amish so he could know Jesus, no matter what the cost.
What he said made my heart flutter. It inspired me.
He told us that his wife and he are not entirely alone and that there are others among the former Amish whose stories are similar.
He said that some like them actually stay Amish, that is, that there are some, to use his term, "born again" Amish.
I was absolutely stunned to note the similarities between the Amish and the CGGC.
In the CGGC, more than ever, in my opinion, we are more focused on church and less on Jesus than we have ever been.
The most blatant and horrific illustration of that reality with which I am personally familiar is the ERC's 2017 new New Strategic Plan...
...which appalled and offended me from the beginning for reasons of Ecclesiolatry.
ONE OF THE THREE FOCUSES OF THE ERC STRATEGIC PLAN IS: HEALTHY, LIFE-GIVING CHURCHES.
Of course, the Plan is not all about church. It's worse than that, really. It's also about PASTORS and CONFERENCE LEADERSHIP,neither of which are in the Bible and, most atrociously...
...nothing there is about Jesus at all.
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The Amish "church" is today growing because the Amish have a lot of babies. Many who are raised Amish leave, for a variety of reasons. But, there are so many young Amish that the community is expanding, rapidly even.
The CGGC is very much like the Amish in its sin of ecclesiolatry but the CGGC lacks two things the Amish have in abundance.
1. A strong sense of community, and
2. Boatloads of babies.
Like the Amish, many of our young people leave. We don't have the large number of babies to make up the difference and, certainly, we are not bound together in community like the Amish are. So, we are experiencing dangerous numerical decline.
As is the case with the Amish, there is reason for some among our young to leave because we focus on church and not on Jesus.
Oh, how I wish for more Jesus in the CGGC!
(Fortunately, this is a place where CGGC Talk-ism actually helps us. From time to time, I ask people who are still in touch with me, and are connected, what's happening with the Strategic Plan. The usual answer is that, apart from me asking, they're hearing nothing about it at all. We talked, but there's no walk.)
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Believe it or not, it was 25 years ago that André Crouch released his song, Jesus is the Answer for the world today.
The time has come to amend those lyrics.
These days, it's: Jesus is the answer for the church today.
What we need today is some "born again" CGGCers.
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